On Feb. 1, a secessionist convention composed of elected delegates, meeting in the old statehouse in Austin, did in fact vote overwhelmingly to secede, 166-8, and at the day's end they signed an "ordinance of secession."

However, partly because of arm-twisting by Texas's Unionist governor Sam Houston, the ordinance did not take effect immediately. It was contingent on ratification by Texas voters and, if it passed, it would "be in force on or after the second day of March, AD 1861."

So, what's the answer? The most reasonable response seems to come from the Texas State Historical Association's online Texas handbook. It puts March 2, which had been cited in the secession ordinance, as the date Texas clocked out of the Union. That's also, perhaps not coincidentally, Texas Independence Day. March 5, says the handbook, was a day that Texas "took further steps to join the Confederacy." So it appears that Texas became an independent country once more — for at least three days.

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